Things I've Learned: Bill Wittliff

56 years in Austin | Author and Screenwriter

By Sarah Thurmond | Photograph by George Brainard

Published: September 29, 2014

After winning accolades for his script writing (The Black Stallion, Lonesome Dove, The Perfect Storm, to name a few), Bill Wittliff returns to his roots for his newest project, a trilogy inspired by his grandfather’s stories. The first “Papa” book, The Devil’s Backbone, is out Oct. 1. With loyal poodle Chica by his side, the 74-year-old still writes in the same house where O. Henry once lived.

On being schooled by his mother
I was not a great student. I went to five different colleges or universities in my first year, winding up at UT. My mom, who didn’t have a high school education, wanted my brother and me to be educated. We would never want to let her down, so that’s why I went.

On the benefit of not knowing
I worked very hard at staying ignorant. I didn’t understand until later that I was trying to stay ignorant. Had I known how great great writing is, I never would have had the nerve to try it myself. Ignorance is bliss—in my case, it was and still is to some degree.

On his early love of Westerns
You couldn’t grow up in the ’40s without being subjected to all the cowboy matinees: Roy and Gene and The Durango Kid, all of that. But it was the stories that got me. I always wanted to tell stories.

On getting a taste of publishing
After college, my wife, Sally, and I had a small publishing company called Encino Press, and I’m certain the reason I did that was because I didn’t yet have the courage to try to write myself. That was a way of being involved in writing without being personally at risk.

On having a dream
If you have the itch, you also have the ability to scratch. If you have the desire, you have the ability to do it. One does not come without the other.

On his new book series
The deal I made with myself on the Papa stories is that I was just going to turn the faucet on and see what came out. If it was good, I was going to keep it. If it was bad, I was going to wad it up and throw it away. In either case, I was going to keep going.

On handling failure
I have made a world of mistakes. But what I’ve learned is that you don’t want to get trapped by your mistakes or by your successes; they are often exactly the same thing. I have known more people wrecked by success than failures or mistakes.

On creative roadblocks
I went through a period of about three years where I was just stuck. Finally, I realized that I wasn’t wanting to look bad. So I wasn’t allowing myself to take chances, which is how you might look good. So I made a deal with myself that nobody would ever see my first drafts. That way I can be stupid and wrong and misspell everything.

On being a writer in Austin
Here’s the cool thing about Austin for a writer: There are other really good writers, and we’re very supportive of each other. When we’re not in the cave writing, we get together in one fashion or another. But when you need to work, nobody bothers you. So it’s not burdensome. It’s really a joy to have kindred spirits around, and Austin breeds that.